ABSTRACT
Even before the 1950 election, the impetus which brought the Labour Government to power began to fail. That impetus, despite a sharp setback in 1931, had mounted steadily during fifty years of opposition—years spent in a sustained campaign against the capitalist order. Yet, after scarcely four years in office, the Government had fulfilled its historic mission. Even if the Labour Government in 1950 had won a large parliamentary majority, the advance to socialism would have been halted. The right wing openly advocated consolidation; the left demanded more socialism, but could only suggest those measures required to achieve it. Labour policy has always been an amalgam. It consists, first, of a number of concrete proposals and, secondly, of those ethical aspirations which constitute our socialist tradition. The continental Marxists certainly blunted their capacity for practical reforms by forcing their policies into conformity with a rigid doctrine.
